‘I’m tired’: Michael Sona on robocalls, his suicide attempt — and the road back

It seemed like a good day to die.

It was the spring of 2012, and Michael Sona could see no other way out. Alone in his Ottawa apartment, he loaded up the magazine of his .45 calibre pistol with ten rounds — noting to himself the absurdity of the act.

“I just needed one. But you do weird stuff almost reflexively when you’re in that state of mind.”

New Budget Grants Debt Collectors the Right to Bombard Student Borrowers With Robocalls

A provision in the budget deal that passed the House on Wednesday will allow debt collectors to harass student loan borrowers with unlimited automated calls and text messages, even after being asked to stop.

The new rule will add significantly to the anxiety of the nation’s already distressed borrowers, many of whom are financially disabled by an economy that does not provide adequate wages.

National student loan debt is now over $1.2 trillion, a sum greater than what the entire U.S. population owes on credit cards. In 2013 alone, the U.S. government collected $51 billion from interest charged to the nation’s youth.

Key Conservative witness in robocalls trial said scheme was national in scope

GUELPH — The Crown’s star witness in the robocalls case wrote last year that the Conservative party was complicit in a national scheme in the 2011 election that it has blamed on local staffers.

Former Guelph Conservative campaign worker Andrew Prescott wrote the statement in July 2013 while he was upset over problems he was having getting accreditation from the party to attend the national convention in Calgary in November of that year.

Robocalls registry will stay secret until after vote

The Conservative government created the Voter Contact Registry last year as part of the Fair Elections Act, in response to outrage over pre-recorded calls in Guelph that directed voters to the wrong polling location in the 2011 election.

The registry is now up and running but voters will have no way of consulting it to see if the calls they receive are legitimate until at least a month after the Oct. 19 election.

Taxpayers paid legal bills for Tory MPs in robocalls case

The House of Commons paid a six-figure legal bill incurred by a group of Conservative MPs named in an unsuccessful legal challenge of the 2011 election results based on misleading robocalls.

Sources tell the Citizen that the House’s secretive Board of Internal Economy agreed to approve payments for fees incurred by at least six MPs who were named as respondents in the Federal Court challenge, which was backed by the Council of Canadians, an advocacy group.

The court in 2013 had ordered the council to pay the MPs a total of $13,206 – just a small share of the $355,907 their lawyer, Arthur Hamilton, had sought to recover.

Watchdog Asks Prosecutors to Reopen Robocall Investigation

A government watchdog is demanding the Public Prosecution Service of Canada re-open the investigation into the 2011 robocall scandal following the prosecutor's decision to appeal for a stronger sentence against the only person charged in the scheme.

The prosecutor wants to send a message to would-be election tamperers with a stiffer sentence for Michael Sona, who was convicted in November for his involvement in organizing the 2011 scheme.

The robocall story is not yet over -- just watch the Sona trial in Guelph

Andrew Prescott, a Conservative campaign worker in Guelph in 2011, accused his party of a "widespread, well-organized" scheme to suppress votes through deceptive calls during the last campaign.

The campaigner made those accusations on Facebook, in a communication to fellow Conservative campaign worker Michael Sona, who is now on trial for willfully preventing a voter from voting.

Prescott, who was the Guelph Conservative candidate's deputy campaign manager during the last campaign, now says he didn't really mean it when he wrote those words. He was angry at the Party, he claims, and just wanted to lash out.

Key Conservative witness in robocalls trial said scheme was national in scope

GUELPH — The Crown’s star witness in the robocalls case wrote last year that the Conservative party was complicit in a national scheme in the 2011 election that it has blamed on local staffers.

Former Guelph Conservative campaign worker Andrew Prescott wrote the statement in July 2013 while he was upset over problems he was having getting accreditation from the party to attend the national convention in Calgary in November of that year.

Prescott never released the statement but did send it as a Facebook message to Michael Sona, who is on trial in Guelph for an Election Act violation in relation to a robocall that sent voters to the wrong polling station on May 2, 2011.

Robocall probe didn’t contact Winnipeg riding

OTTAWA — Investigators did not speak to the company that placed Conservative get-out-the-vote calls in Winnipeg South Centre, the riding with the second largest number of complaints of deceptive calls in the last election.

Elections Canada issued a report last month after a two-year, $650,000 investigation into reports of dirty political calls across Canada, finding no evidence of “a conspiracy or conspiracies to interfere with the voting process.”

Robocalls report clearest sign yet of our democracy’s decay

Kinsley’s Law: “The scandal isn’t what’s illegal — the scandal’s what is legal”.

I guess Elections Canada must have a selfie-video of Michael Sona looking into his cell-phone and cackling,”I just sent a hundred people to the wrong poll and I intended to do it…hahahaha.”

Robocalls report clearest sign yet of our democracy’s decay

Kinsley’s Law: “The scandal isn’t what’s illegal — the scandal’s what is legal”.

I guess Elections Canada must have a selfie-video of Michael Sona looking into his cell-phone and cackling,”I just sent a hundred people to the wrong poll and I intended to do it…hahahaha.”

Robocalls report finds no evidence of conspiracy to deceive voters beyond Guelph

Elections Canada has issued a report on its investigation into deceptive calls in the last election, concluding that “the evidence gathered in the investigation does not lend support to the existence of a conspiracy or conspiracies to interfere with the voting process.”

The investigation did find evidence that “incorrect poll locations were provided to some electors, and that some nuisance calls occurred,” but that does not show that the calls were made to try to prevent people from voting, according to Yves Cote, the commissioner of Canada Elections.

The robocalls cloud still hangs over Joe Oliver’s riding

Our new finance minister, Joe Oliver, still has a hurdle to clear.

Oliver’s riding of Eglington-Lawrence is among those being probed by Elections Canada in an investigation of automated robocalls and other alleged illicit activities in the 2011 election campaign. That investigation is scheduled to wind up shortly, with a report to follow soon after.

Oliver defeated Liberal incumbent Joe Volpe in that campaign by more than 4,000 votes. So convinced of wrongdoing was Volpe that he took the unusual step of filing a grievance with Elections Canada even before voting day. He said his supporters were being harassed by calls coming from North Dakota and elsewhere. Two years after the campaign he went to Elections Canada again with more allegations, which included a claim that large numbers of electors were wrongly registered.

Still no election reform robocalls bill, 14 months past House deadline

The federal government has yet to table a bill to address the robocalls issue and to prevent election fraud, more than 14 months past the House’s deadline, and opposition MPs say it’s “irresponsible,”  “disgraceful,” and “frustrating,” that the governing Conservatives are delaying this important piece of legislation.

The House passed the motion unanimously in March 2012 and the next federal election is expected in the fall of 2015.

“At some level, it’s either a mix of incompetence or deliberate delay seems to be underlying the holding up of the legislation that they promised to have in by last September. We’re looking at 14 months,” said NDP MP Craig Scott (Toronto Danforth, Ont.), his party’s democratic reform critic.

Records show Sona on a beach when Conservatives claim he confessed to robocalls

At the same time as some Conservative party staffers allege meeting with Michael Sona and reporting that he told them of his involvement in the robocalls controversy in the riding of Guelph, travel records show that Sona was vacationing on the island of Aruba.

Sona is charged with violating the Elections Act in a controversy stemming from the 2011 election wherein robocalls directed voters to the wrong polling stations.

Some of the most damaging testimony, according to a sworn statement by Elections Canada investigator Allan Mathews, comes from Rebecca Dockstaeder, who worked for CPC MP Chris Warkentin.

Harper adviser delayed robocall witness interview for legal advice, email shows

OTTAWA – One of Prime Minister Stephen Harper‘s top advisers instructed a potential key witness in the robocalls investigation to delay an interview with an Elections Canada investigator until she could obtain legal advice.

Jenni Byrne, who was the Conservatives’ national campaign manager during the 2011 election, emailed Guelph campaign worker Andrew Prescott on Nov. 30, 2011, to ask him not to talk to an investigator looking into the “Pierre Poutine” robocall until she had a chance to talk to the party’s lawyer.

Michael Sona Bragged Of Election Exploits, Witnesses Told Robocalls Investigator

OTTAWA - A junior Conservative staffer in Guelph, Ont., charged with elections offences bragged about his allegedly fraudulent exploits to other young partisans, newly released court documents show.

A judge partially lifted a publication ban Wednesday that prevented the release of details on Elections Canada interviews with six Conservative workers.

All six suggest that Michael Sona boasted to them about his alleged involvement in a series of fraudulent automated phone calls during the local Conservative candidate's 2011 Guelph election campaign.

Robocalls witnesses harassed, feared for jobs: Elections Canada

OTTAWA — Witnesses who gave key evidence against the former Conservative campaign worker accused in the robocalls affair were subjected to online harassment, and fear for their jobs if their names are published, according to Elections Canada.

Investigator Allan Mathews said in an affidavit sworn last week that the media attention surrounding his probe of robocalls in Guelph has had a “chilling effect” and discouraged some witnesses from speaking with him.

Rob Ford Robocalls: Mayor Defends Calling Councillor's Constituents

TORONTO - Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says he ordered robocalls to east-end residents to make sure they knew their councillor voted against a subway expansion.

Ford says he didn't do anything wrong since he believes it's his "responsibility to the taxpayers" to make sure constituents know how their councillors vote.

Tory spin on robocalls ruling at odds with judge's own words

Had anyone been listening along to the internal soundtrack accompanying my leisurely mid-evening perusal of CBC colleague Susana Mas' report on the recent court ruling on costs stemming from that concluded robocalls election challenge, they would have heard the record screech to a halt right about the time that I hit this quote from newly installed Conservative Party communications director Cory Hann:

    In an email to CBC News, Cory Hann, the director of communications for the party, said, "Conservative MPs won the case."

    "The judge looked at all costs submissions and awarded the Conservative MPs costs for defending their legal and legitimate election results."